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What it's about:
Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began - The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.
What we thought:
Except for yet another full action, video game-like, film with a poor plot, total lack of logic and terrible script, this is also a very chaotic flick. The film is filmed in a “style” where the camera flies all over the place, constantly shakes as if there’s an earthquake and madly zooms in and out the whole time. This altogether makes for a very unpleasant cinema experience. This also makes it hard to follow any of the action scenes and, for a matter of fact, the whole film.
Compliments must be given to the visual special effects artist. Although, when it comes to the sound effects and mixing, it was done very poorly with the effects being over the top dramatic and loud. This is a cheap trick in action films by using scare tactics throughout the film to keep the viewer’s attention in order to make up for the lame story line and plot.
Lead actress Milla Jovovich did not do a bad job in playing her role and comes forth very convincing, but unfortunately there’s not a lot to say about the rest of the cast.
Back to the cinematography, director Paul W.S. Anderson can definitely learn from other classic action films that a movie like this does not need to be filmed and edited in such a frantic way in order to keep the scenes exciting. Again, I believe this was done to distract the viewer from the narrow-minded story line. The film is filled with so many simple flaws that it’s not even worth mentioning all of them, but aside from the ridiculous plot points and mindless screenwriting it will probably take the award for the most awful editing in a flick. A simple action such as putting the gun in a holster takes three to four cuts to show.
The only thing this film is good for is to use as example in film schools of what not to do. The film is physically draining to watch and you might even walk out of the cinema with a headache or feeling nauseous. The problem with a film being edited in such a horrible way is the viewer gets no chance to appreciate or give credit to the few things done right such as costume design and props.
I don’t think the Resident Evil series was meant as films with substance filled story lines or in depth character development and smart dialogue, but rather just as fun and entertaining, very fast paced action films full of jumpscare sequences. So if this is your thing and you’ve been following the series since the start, go ahead, but for anyone else I would advise to give this one a skip. Let’s hope this really was the final chapter.
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